Our Department strongly encourages students to take advantage of study abroad opportunities and programs. An Earth Scientist can never see too much of our planet or too many rocks. Since the Department has four majors, the prerequisites for study abroad vary with each individual major. Depending upon the student's study plan and the courses available at the foreign school, the Department can be quite flexible. Most importantly, students should work out their program well in advance (a year ahead is not too early) with a departmental advisor or the Undergraduate Program Committee.
There are no departmental prerequisites for studying abroad. However, students should try to complete the basic courses for their major before traveling abroad so that they may take full advantage of their foreign experience and are able to take courses abroad that they do not have the opportunity to take at Boston College. In general, students in any of our majors should complete GE 132, GE 220, and a year of Chemistry, Physics, or Biology before they go abroad. Environmental Geoscience majors should also have taken GE 167, and Geology, Geophysics, or Geology/Geophysics majors should have completed a year of calculus.
There is no limit on the number of courses that can be approved toward the major as long as the courses are approved in advance by the departmental Undergraduate Program Committee, the Foreign Study Advisor (Professor J. Christopher Hepburn) or the Department Chairperson. Whether courses from foreign institutions will be counted toward the major depends entirely upon the school they are attending and the offerings at that particular university. Courses taken abroad are generally applied toward major elective credit.
The Department believes strongly that an abroad program is very worthwhile, exposing students to not only other cultures, but other physical environments and geological situations. The Department will try to be as flexible as possible to allow students the opportunity to study abroad. Based upon prior student experience, the Department particularly recommends programs in Ecuador and Australia. Students should contact Professors Hepburn or Kineke to plan their semester or year abroad.